


The Odd Case of David Jacobs and His Curious Death

by orphan_account



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Multi, Murder, Murder Mystery, Past Relationship(s), davids fucking DEAD, nyall there is a lot, so katherine managed to convince her dad to let her and the gang borrrow his boat for a lil while, spring break gone horribly wrong, theres a lot goin on, who killed david???
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-13 15:43:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15367875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Everyone on the boat is a suspect. No one would kill David. None of it made sense.Life sucks though, and the people you trust aren't the ones you should.





	1. Suspect #1

**Author's Note:**

> hmu on tumblr at thehouseofborden.tumblr.com !!! this is just a stupid idea ive been throwing around in my head- i promise it'll be at least okay-ish

David Jacobs was seen as an odd boy. He saw things in black and white- something was either wrong, or it was right. He always tapped Katherine on the shoulder three times, tapped Jack twice, and everyone else four times. He didn't hug or kiss, he bumped heads gently. He rocked on his heels a lot. However, none of this matters to the story, but it should be known that many of his peers, no matter how much he cared about them, saw him as odd. He was an above average student, but only by a little bit. He always had his nose buried in a law book, or a book about human rights. He smiled, adjusted his glasses, fixed his sweater, and lived his life how he felt comfortable living it. There was no obvious reason for his death. His family was kind, he had a boyfriend, and he had a bright future ahead of him.

But, nothing ever goes according to plan, does it?

Katherine surveyed the room, looking for any signs that his death was a suicide, but that just wouldn't make sense. It was David, he wasn't like that. Every detail of his side of the room was perfect- except for the body, covered with a sheet. That was an imperfection. If David knew that blood got on his sheets, he would not be happy, and he'd try to fix it as soon as possible. Katherine stepped forward, hand resting on the bound notebook on David's bedside table. It would feel wrong to look through it- but perhaps there would be clues in there, if he had any enemies, or had been fighting with any of their friends. 

Maybe, Katherine thought, it was a suicide. No one could've came in the room, logically, without another one of them noticing it. But David was a planner, she knew that from the time they'd dated, David had everything down. Date nights were always planned out enough that Katherine just had to go with it. David had his schedules taped to each and every one of his notebooks. And he scheduled everything- even the times he brushed his teeth. No, Katherine decided, it couldn't have been a suicide.

First, David said he'd felt ill, so he left the deck to go to the bathroom. When he returned, he'd seemed off. But none of them thought anything of it. Each of them got a little seasick, even Spot. 

Second, David's hands were shaking during dinner, and he excused himself multiple times. Race went to check on him once, and then said he was fine, that he was just having troubles again.

Third, David leaned over the railing of the boat with a book in his hands. Katherine was pretty sure she was the only one that saw him run his fingers across the cover, smile sadly, and then drop the book into the ocean. That was one of the most odd things, David would never do something like that.

Fourth, David went to bed early, claiming he was tired out. A couple boys went to go check on him to make sure he was alright, and they reported he was alright. However, Jack had entered with a water bottle, and exited without one.

Fifth, when the rest of them went to bed, Race stumbled out of the room, red-faced and breathing heavily, proclaiming to all of them that David wasn't breathing.

Katherine picked up the notebook and opened it, flipping through the pages of neat, gentle script. Some entries were titled, others weren't. One that stood out was a rhyme. Not a poem, just a rhyme.

"For the dove will cry, and the wounded wolf will lie."

What could that possibly mean? David's favorite bird was a dove, everyone knew that. Whenever he saw one, he'd flap his hands around, and his face would just light up in pure happiness.

But the wolf. The wounded wolf will lie. Katherine supposed it could be a reference to Grimm's fairytales, or Charles Perrault's Little Red Riding Hood, with the famous wolf. With the hint of the word wounded, Katherine fleetingly wondered if perhaps it was Crutchie who'd killed him. But there was no obvious reason as to why that could have happened- David and Crutchie were good friends, and held hands a lot, even though they'd broken up a month ago. Perhaps it was out of jealousy? But Crutchie wasn't one to get jealous easily, and he and David had broken up on good terms.

Katherine decided it wasn't Crutchie who'd killed him. The next obvious choice was Jack, as he'd entered the room with a water bottle, and exited without one. Maybe he had poisoned him? It didn't make much sense, but it was a possibility. 

She sat down David's notebook, and readjusted the sheet to cover his _deathly_ pale face (pun intended). Shaking her head, she sighed and left the room, pondering the other suspects. Then, it hit her, that she was a suspect as well, everyone on the boat was.

Katherine didn't kill David Jacobs, but she did know who did.


	2. Chapter 2

The following is a transcript of a conversation between Katherine and another member of the boat, Jack Kelly, Davey's first boyfriend, and also the last one. With a couple on again/off again scenarios in between. Jack was unaware of Katherine's filming.

[ FIVE A.M. DECK. ]

KATHERINE: Do you know anything?

JACK: No, but be more specific.

KATHERINE: You were closest to him. Any enemies you know of?

JACK, SNORTING: Enemies? Davey? Really, Kath?

KATHERINE: Jack, this is serious. 

[ A moment of silence passes between them. ]

JACK: Damnit, Kath, you don't think I know that? My boyfriend's dead, no one knows how or why. I'm damn aware that this is serious.

KATHERINE: Did you love him?

[ Silence. Then, what sounds like sniffling. ]

JACK: Did I love him? More than anyone. 

KATHERINE: Jack, it is okay to cry, you know-

JACK: I'm not cryin'

KATHERINE: You went into his room with a water bottle, you came out without one?

JACK: What's that have to do with any of this?

KATHERINE: What was in the bottle?

JACK: It was water. He said he felt sick, and he looked it too, so I gave him some water.

KATHERINE: Just water?

JACK: Yeah, what, do you think I'd poison him or somethin'?

KATHERINE: Maybe not you, maybe someone dropped something in your water when you weren't looking.

JACK: He threw up earlier. I helped him get cleaned up. There was a lot o' blood.

KATHERINE: Why didn't you tell someone?

JACK: He made me promise not to.

KATHERINE: I'm really sorry that he's gone, Jack.

JACK: Don't give me that.

KATHERINE: What?

JACK: "I'm sorry he's gone." Bullshit, you'se been waiting for an opportunity for a big crime story to solve, ain'tcha? This is Davey, he's dead. Instead o' mournin', you'se tryna figure out who killed him. You're accusin' me. He's dead, Kath! He's fuckin' dead, and you're reportin' on it!

KATHERINE: Jack Kelly, you take that back right now-

JACK: I ain't gonna take it back until you stop investigatin' for five seconds and actually care.

[ The sound of a slap, presumably from Katherine. ]

KATHERINE: I do care! That's why I'm trying to figure this out, trying to figure out who killed him. In fact, since you seem so fixated on me giving up investigating, it leads me to think you may have actually been the one to kill him.

JACK: Why would I? Give me one damn reason why I'd kill him.

[ Silence. ] 

JACK: Exactly.

KATHERINE: He wrote a rhyme in his journal.

JACK: You looked in his journal? The journal he specifically told us never to look in?

KATHERINE: "For the dove will cry-"

JACK: Shut _up! Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut **up** I don't want to hear it!_

KATHERINE: "- and the wounded wolf will lie."

JACK: Goddamnit, Katherine! Shut the hell up! You want me to, what, decode his last bit of writing? You think I can do that? You think I can handle that?

KATHERINE, IN A WARNING TONE: Jack.

JACK, YELLING NOW: You think I don't want to know what happened? Of course I do, it's everythin' that's been on my damn mind. You know what he said before I left him room? You know it Kath? He told me he loved me, those were his last fucking words. Do you know how hard that is? To know that last thing- the last goddamned thing that he ever said was "I love you, Jack"? Do you?

[ It's silent now except for broken sobs from Jack. ]

KATHERINE: I'll leave you alone.

-

At this point, the recording ends. Katherine states that Jack remained on the deck for at least another ten minutes, his face in his hands as he cried and cursed out to the sky. 

Jack Kelly didn't kill David Jacobs, but he has an idea of who did.


End file.
